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Otis B. Driftwood
| aliases = Otis Otis Firefly | franchise = | image = | notability = | type = Psychopath; Serial killer | gender = | base of operations = Ruggsville, Texas | known relatives = Mother Firefly Adoptive mother; deceased. Grandpa Hugo Adoptive grandfather; likely deceased. Baby Firefly Adoptive sister; deceased. Rufus Firefly, Jr. Adoptive brother; deceased. Tiny Firefly Adoptive brother; status unknown. Captain Spaulding Adoptive father, deceased. | status = | born = December 23rd, 1929 The Devil's Rejects Official Website; no longer available | died = | 1st appearance = House of 1000 Corpses | final appearance = 3 From Hell | actor = Bill Moseley }} Otis is a fictional serial killer played by actor Bill Moseley and first appeared in the 2003 horror film House of 1000 Corpses, directed by Rob Zombie. He is one of the more visible and outspoken members of the murderous Firefly clan and is personally responsible for the deaths of at least three individuals. A fetishist to the extreme, Otis is characterized by his strong southern accent, long blond hair and a penchant for spouting his personal philosophical credo. The character appeared again in the 2005 sequel, The Devil's Rejects. Biography Very little is known about the mysterious individual who calls himself Otis B. Driftwood, aka Otis Firefly. He was apparently born on December 23rd, 1929 to abusive neglectful parents who didn't even bother to give their child a name. As a youth, Otis wandered the countryside as a drifter traveling everywhere between Wilmington, Delaware and Hurst, Texas. Around the year 1965, he came to the town of Ruggsville where he met Eve Wilson and Johnny Lee Johns. He insinuated himself into their family and was the one who suggested that everyone should adapt aliases derived from old Groucho Marx films. Eve Wilson became known as Mother Firefly and her son Rufus took the alias Rufus Firefly, Jr.. He gave Johnny Lee Johns the nickname Captain Spaulding after the character of Jeffrey T. Spaulding from the 1930 film Animal Crackers. Otis also befriended Spaulding's daughter Vera-Ellen whom he referred to as "Baby". Otis and Baby grew very close and found that they shared a common passion for committing murder. The two roamed the Southwestern United States, randomly killing people without mercy or remorse. Beginning in the summer of 1975, Otis began committing what would become known as the "Son of Satan Murder". By winter of 1976, Otis continued on his murder spree, but Baby decided to return to Ruggsville to be with her family. Later, in the winter of 1976, Baby returned to Ruggsville alone and resumed her life on the Firefly farm while Driftwood continued his murderous rampage. Otis traveled across the country stealing and selling cars to survive, but eventually returned to Ruggsville and resumed his relationship with Baby and the other Firefly family members. At some point in the mid to late 1970s, Otis and Baby allegedly became involved in a Satanic cult led by a local urban legend calling himself Doctor Satan. They were eventually forced to abandon the cult following an incident wherein Otis stabbed one of the cult leaders to death with a knife. The Devil's Rejects Official Website; no longer available Otis' inherent depravity paved the way for his various grotesque hobbies. An unrepentent killer and fetishist, Otis enjoyed kidnapping and torturing victims, particularly cheerleaders, sometimes even skinning them. It was not uncommon for him to engage in necrophelia, and making skin costumes from the flesh of his victims. House of 1000 Corpses On October 30th, 1977, Otis encountered four youths who were invited into his home courtesy of Mother Firefly. He quickly determined that these four would be his next victims. The guests consisted of Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles, Denise Willis and Jerry Goldsmith. As they drove away from the Firefly home, Otis and his brothers Rufus and Tiny ambushed them in the middle of the road. Otis attacked Bill Hudley while his brothers brought the others back to the house. Otis dragged Bill down into his personal torture den where he bound him against the wall and began to dismember him. Experimenting with various props and strange devices, Otis transformed Bill into a carnival-style curiosity which he dubbed "Fish Boy". Otis then began terrorizing Bill's girlfriend Mary Knowles, whom he left bound and gagged and forced her to admire his handiwork as he propped the Fish Boy body up against a wall in his room. The following day, Halloween, two police officers and Denise Willis' father, Donald Willis, came to the Firefly home looking for the missing youths. While Mother Firefly killed Lt. Wydell in her kitchen, Otis went outback where he found Donald Willis and Deputy Steve Naish. He shot Willis in the back, then killed Naish by shooting him in the head at point blank range. He then skinned Willis and made himself a Halloween cotume from his flesh. Wearing his Donald costume, Otis descended the staircase where the three others, Mary, Denise and Jerry were bound together in adult-sized rabbit costumes. Chanting "Who's yer daddy?", Otis then began kissing Denise Willis. The Fireflys brought their victims out to a nearby cemetery where they intended on using them as a sacrifice in a bizarre occult ritual. Otis applied black and white grease paint to his face in the pattern of a skull. Mary managed to escape from them, and Otis shouted after her "Run, rabbit, run!" before sending Baby Firefly off to hunt her down. Baby killed Mary and brought her body back to the site where Otis and the others burned her on an altar made of branches. Jerry and Denise were locked inside a coffin and lowered into a tunnel that fed into an underground operating room. The operating room was administered by a psychotic surgeon known as Doctor Satan. Denise briefly managed to escape, but Otis re-captured her and brought her back to Doctor Satan's lair. The Devil's Rejects defends his home.]] In May of 1978, Otis was at home sleeping with the rotting corpse of a young woman when officers from the Ruggsville County Sheriff's Department laid siege to the family farm. Awakening with a start, Otis donned an iron mask with a skull painted on it, grabbed a rifle, and opened fire on the offending police officers. The other family members did likewise, but it soon became apparent that they were outgunned. Otis grabbed Baby and retreated into the basement, which was equipped with a secret access hatch that led into a sewar drainage tunnel. On the run, Otis and Baby waded through the nearby swamp until they came to a highway. Baby laid upon the road pretending to be unconscious until a motorist stopped to check on her condition. As the woman leaned over Baby, Otis sprung up from behind and stabbed her to death. They stole the woman's car and drove until they reached the Kahiki Palms Motel. Wanted by the police, they were unable to procure a room for themselves, so they barged into a room occupied by four members of a country/western band named Banjo & Sullivan. Otis shot the band's roadie, Jimmy, in the head, thus showing the others that he meant business. With the room secure, Otis and Baby took some time to indulge their baser passions. Otis grabbed Gloria Sullivan, held a gun to her head and forced her to strip down to her underwear. He also forced her to grope and paw at him like a hungry lover. After satisfying himself by dehumanizing Gloria, he decided to take her husband Roy Sullivan and bandmate Adam Banjo outside towards a patch of earth to unearth some weapons that he had previously buried. At this point, Adam Banjo tried to fight back and struck Otis across the back with a heavy tree branch. Otis responded by kicking him, then fired his gun, shooting Adam through the neck. Grabbing the tree branch, he swung at Roy Sullivan, knocking him down. He waited to hear Roy praying to God, then mocked his faith by pretending that he had suddenly been struck by the Holy Spirit. Leaning over the bleeding man, he pulled the hair out of his face and said, "I am the devil. And I am here to do the devil's work" before dealing Roy the fatal blow. He turned back towards Adam who was lying in the dirt clutching his bleeding throat wound. He confessed that he was going to go easy on him before he decided to be a hero. Instead though, Otis skinned him alive and made a mask out of the skin from Adam's face. He returned to the motel and burst into the room wearing the skin-mask. By this point, Captain Spaulding had arrived and reunited with his daughter, Baby. Otis and Spaulding argued over who was more fit to lead the family, but ultimately it was Baby who proved to be the voice of reason, citing that they needed to leave this place as soon as possible. They took the keys to the Banjo & Sullivan van and took off. While driving away from town, Baby expressed an interest in stopping for ice cream. Otis, already frustrated by this point, had no intention of stopping. Spaulding and Baby ganged up on him, singing the words "Tutti fuckin' Fruity" until Otis finally relented and stopped for ice cream. They continued driving until they reached Charlie's Frontier Fun Town, a brothel run by Spaulding's brother, Charlie Altamont. Charlie agreed to let them stay until things quieted down and Otis was able to avail himself of everything the place had to offer, including Charlie's prostitutes. Otis spent the next two nights drinking heavily and spending time with a hooker named Candy. On the second night, Sheriff John Quincy Wydell along with two bounty hunters named Rondo and Billy Ray Snapper raided the brothel and captured Otis, Baby and Spaulding. Billy Ray Snapper pitched a drunken Otis through the window before he was hauled into Wydell's police van. Sheriff Wydell brought all three of them back to the Firefly farmhouse. He had only recently learned that the Fireflys were responsible for murdering his brother, George Wydell, and now he wanted revenge. He tied Otis to a chair and drove large nails through his hands, pinning him to the arms of the chair. He showed him photographs of his past victims, which he then stapled to Otis' chest. Wydell tortured all three of them at length then set the house on fire with the intent of burning them alive. Fortunately, Baby's brother Tiny showed up, killed Wydell and freed the three captives. Weak and bleeding, they took Charlie Atlamont's convertible and drove off into the night. They were still driving in the early morning hours when they noticed a police road block further down the road. Otis stopped the car and awakened Spaulding and Baby. All three of them realized that there was no way they were going to survive. They instead decided to go out in a blaze of glory. Otis gunned the engine and drove full speed towards the police barricade whereupon they were shot and wounded in a hail of gunfire. 3 From Hell Coming Soon! Notes & Trivia * * Like many of the character from the film, Otis is named after a character originally played by Groucho Marx during the films of the 1930s. Otis is named for Otis Driftwood from the 1935 comedy A Night at the Opera. * The characterization of Otis B. Driftwood alters dramatically between House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. In House of 1000 Corpses, he is relatively clean-shaven and is an albino. In The Devil's Rejects, he has a full beard and mustache and has a normal skin complexion. His personality for the most part remains intact. There is no in-story reason to explain the differences. Director Rob Zobmie wanted The Devil's Rejects to be grittier and somewhat more down to earth, so he omitted some of the more cartoonish elements from the characterizations. * Otis (along with Captain Spaulding) made a cameo appearance in the 2009 animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, where he was voiced by Bill Moseley. * Apparently, Otis and Captain Spaulding do not get along very well. Rob Zombie; House of 1000 Corpses; DVD director's commentary; 2004 * Otis committed his first murder when he was only thirteen-years-old. The Devil's Rejects Official Website; no longer available. Quotes * Otis: It's all true. The bogeyman is real and you found him. .... * Otis: You had to come all fuckin' big stick, walkin' tall, like a big fuckin' hero. Got yourself to blame, hero. Look at you now, hero, you're gonna fuckin' bleed to death! .... * Otis: Consider me fuckin' Willy fuckin' Wonka! This is my fucking chocolate factory! You got it? My factory! .... * Otis: Listen, you Malibu middle class Barbie piece of shit, I'm tryin' to work here. Work? You ever work? Yeah, I'll bet you have. Scoopin' ice cream to your shit-heel friends on summer break. Well I ain't talkin' about no goddamn white socks with Mickey Mouse on one side and Donald Duck on the other. I ain't readin' no funny books, mama. .... * Otis: I am the devil, and I am here to do the devil's work. .... * Otis: I want you to pray to your god. I want you to pray that he comes and saves you. I want lightning to come and crash down upon my fucking head! .... * Otis: Our bodies come and go but this blood... is forever. .... * Otis: There is no fuckin' ice cream in your fuckin' future. .... * Otis: I know what I know and I know I don't like that nut sack. .... * Otis: Consider me fuckin' Willy fuckin' Wonka! This is my fucking chocolate factory! You got it? My factory! .... * Otis: People come, people go. But how many ever really stop to take a look at the underbelly of the beast? See also * House of 1000 Corpses * House of 1000 Corpses (Gallery) * House of 1000 Corpses (Soundtrack) * The Devil's Rejects * The Devil's Rejects (Gallery) * The Devil's Rejects (Soundtrack) External Links * * Otis B. Driftwood at Serial Killer Calendar References ---- Category:Characters Category:Film characters Category:1929 character births Category:Serial killers Category:Bill Moseley/Characters Category:Revived Category:Living Characters